An Unexpected Journey
Summary: Harry did not really know what to expect after Dumbledore's death and had little idea as to what his next move should be. It was, therefore, a surprise to be sent off on an adventure across the continent by a Metamorphmagus. The bigger surprise though was the thirteen witches sent to accompany him as he sought a treasure that would help lead to Voldemort's fall…
Warnings: No real pairings to speak of. Not for Ron fans. Not for Snape fans. Not for Draco fans. Probably not for Dumbledore fans either. Does contain Horcruxes, though they are relocated.
With the hot sun beating down on the back of his neck, Harry Potter crouched low over the flower bed, pulling up any weed that dared to try and grow between the marigolds.
It was a very hot day and Harry was the only person to be seen outside anywhere along Privet Drive. Some people, like his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, were inside with the windows open and electric fans whirring away. Other people had elected to take a trip to the beach or the local swimming pool in order to cool off.
Either way, no one was there to watch Harry's back, or to witness the rather out-of-place looking woman who approached him. With her pink hair and her clothing a mix of blacks and pinks, complete with leather belts, straps and boots, as well as her fishnet stockings, she would not have looked out of place at a rave. On Privet Drive, however, she stuck out like a sore thumb.
She had planned to sneak up on Harry, but, ever the klutz, she gave herself away by tripping on the curb of the pavement. At the sound Harry spun around, his wand in his hand and a curse on the tip of his tongue.
She held up her hands to show that she was unarmed while commenting "Nice reflexes, Harry."
"Tonks!" exclaimed Harry with no small amount of surprise. "What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting to see anyone from the Order for another week."
"Yeah, well there's been a slight change of plan on that front," replied Tonks. "I'm here just to give you a heads up about it. A group of us will be coming around tomorrow evening to explain everything."
"Uh, tomorrow might not be so good," said Harry. "Uncle Vernon's putting on a dinner for two of his superiors and their wives."
"Oh, don't worry about a little thing like that," said Tonks, dismissively. "See you tomorrow."
And with that, she disapparated.
Harry shook his head and turned back to the flower beds.
The rest of that day went about the same as any other day Harry spent at Privet Drive; he worked hard in the intense heat and he had no further human contact until, at half past eight, Aunt Petunia stuck her head out of the window and told him to "Get inside."
Dinner for Harry was two pieces of stale bread and a bit of salad that Uncle Vernon had turned his nose up at, dismissing it as "rabbit food."
After eating Harry did all of the dishes, wiped down all the worktops and cleaned the sink.
It was at this point that Dudley stomped in. Harry heard his Aunt ask him if he wanted some dinner, to which Dudley replied that he and his friends had stopped off at a Burger King on the way home.
"Now, Diddy-kins, you know that you're not supposed to have that greasy food when you're on your diet."
"Whatever," replied Dudley gruffly before turning to stomp up the staircase.
"Oh, Diddy-kins, give those boots to me. You've trod in some dogs mess."
In the kitchen Harry scowled, knowing what was coming next.
A few moments later Dudley resumed his walk up the stairs, though his footsteps were quieter now that he wasn't wearing his size 11 boots. Aunt Petunia came into the kitchen and dumped Dudley's let boot into the sink before reaching into a cupboard and putting out some kind of spray can.
Harry had used this stuff before – you sprayed it onto a dirty piece of fabric, like a t-shirt, a towel or, in this case, a carpet, and left it for a bit to soak in. It came as no surprise to Harry when Aunt Petunia handed the can to him.
Harry found the several brown blotches where Dudley had walked and sprayed the contents of the can over them. Upon returning to the kitchen he found that Aunt Petunia had retreated to the living room, leaving Harry to clean up Dudley's boot.
By the time Harry had finished cleaning the boot, cleaning the carpet and re-cleaning the sink he was exhausted and ready for bed. He had also quite forgotten that he had been visited by a Metamorphmagus earlier in the day, and that same Metamorphmagus had promised to return the following evening with a group of others.
Harry had just reached the halfway point of the staircase when he heard Uncle Vernon shouting at him.
"BOY! You haven't put the bins out!"
'Of course…' thought Harry morosely as he turned and headed back downstairs.
After a meagre breakfast the following morning Harry was sent outside once again with a list of tasks a mile long. He was kept so busy during the day, what with watering the plants, painting the garden shed, mowing the lawn and raking out the gravel on the driveway that the fact that he was expecting company that evening did not enter his mind even once.
At about three in the afternoon a car pulled up outside the house. It was driven by Callum Evershot, a friend of Dudley's who was a year older than them. Harry could hear people shouting and laughing in the car but the windows were tinted out so he couldn't see who was in it, though he was sure that he recognised the voice of Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend.
The car's horn sounded loudly and a few moments later Dudley came lumbering out of the house. Without sparing a look at Harry he traipsed over the neatly cut lawn and over the well-kept flower bed and got into the car, which promptly drove away with a roar from engine and an even louder one that, to Harry, made it sound like the exhaust pipe was about to fall off.
Apparently it was cool for your car to be heard pulling away from the other side of the county.
At a quarter past eight Harry heard the front door opening and looked up to see Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia stepping out of the house all dressed up.
"Boy," said Uncle Vernon once he caught sight of him. "There has been a change of plans. We and our guests will not be dining here tonight. Instead we are going to the Seven Suns Hotel in Greater Whinging and will be staying there the night."
Harry had heard of the Seven Suns Hotel before. It was the only five star hotel in Greater Whinging. This caused Harry to suspect that Vernon was only telling him exactly where they were going because he wanted the neighbours to overhear.
"Fine," replied Harry. "What time's Dudley coming back?"
"He's not, he's staying at a friend's house," replied Aunt Petunia.
In a quieter voice Vernon added "We've left your dinner on the side. Rest assured that everything, every scrap of food and every drop of liquid in the fridge, the freezer and the cupboards has been accounted for and it had all better be there when we get back tomorrow or the will be hell to pay!"
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," answered Harry.
Vernon Dursley glared at his nephew for a few moments longer before he turned and got into the car. Harry watched as they pulled out of the drive and went off towards Magnolia Road.
Once he was certain that they were not coming back, Harry went around to the back of the house, threw the rake back into the shed and headed inside the house.
To say that the meal that had been left for him was mediocre would be an understatement; two bits of toast left over from breakfast (left over because they were burnt!), an apple well past its prime and a small glass of water.
Fortunately Harry had been planning ahead for his summers at the end of every school year since his third. He hurried upstairs to his bedroom and pulled up the lose floorboard by his bed. Underneath that floorboard there was an old shirt of Dudley's inside which Harry had hidden all manner of different foods. He always spent most of the end-of-term feast surreptitiously stealing food from the table in order to take home and he always made plenty of purchases from the witch who brought around a trolley on the train, heaving with sweets, cakes and pasties.
The food from the feast was long gone by now. Harry always made sure to each that stuff first as it didn't usually last long. The food he got from the trolley, on the other hand, usually lasted quite a while. Harry suspected that it all had preservation charms on it.
His store was getting low though. That was to be expected – following Dumbledore's death the students had been sent home from Hogwarts much earlier than normal. Harry had thought that he had brought enough food to last but apparently not.
Glumly he resigned himself to supplementing his dinner with just half a pumpkin pasty and a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
Upon returning to the kitchen, Harry tossed the rotten appel into the bin before deciding that he might as well have the toast. If he dipped it into the water first it would be easier to eat.
After adding his half-a pasty and the handful of Every Flavour Beans to his plate Harry moved from the kitchen to the dining table.
He was just about to take his first bite of burnt toast when the doorbell rang.
'Who the hell could that be?' thought Harry as he got up out of his seat and approached the door.
He opened the door to find a girl the same age as him standing on the threshold. She had blue eyes, brown hair and stood at about the same height as Harry.
Harry gaped at her. Of all the people who could have been standing there, Tracey Davis was just about the last person that he would have guessed.
"Good evening Harry," she said brightly, saying more words to him in one sentence that she had in all of the six years that they had been attending the same school.
"Uh… good evening?" replied Harry, though he was acutely aware of how much his reply sounded like a question.
"I'm not late am I?" she asked. "This place wasn't so easy to find."
"Late for what?" asked Harry.
"Dinner," replied Tracey as she stepped past him and entered the house without being invited. "She said there would be food on arrival."
""She said"?" echoed Harry. "Who said?"
But Tracey hadn't heard him. She pulled her cloak, black with an emerald green trim, off of her shoulders and hung it up before wandering into the dining room.
"So I'm the first one here then?" she asked as she approached the table. "Oh dear, this won't do," she added as she saw what was on Harry's plate. "You've got plenty of guests coming tonight you know, Harry. You don't want to disappoint."
And with that she entered the kitchen and began taking things out of the cupboards.
"Now just hold on…" began Harry before the doorbell rang again.
"That'll be the door," said Tracey as she pulled several tins of minestrone soup out of the nearest cupboard.
Harry shook his head in mild disbelief before returning to the hallway and opening the door.
"Good evening Harry," said Daphne Greengrass the moment the door opened.
"Good evening," said Harry as Daphne made her way past him, her long blonde hair swaying with her movement.
"Ah, so I'm not as late as I thought," said Daphne as she took off her own cloak and hung it up next to Tracey's. Hers too was black with an emerald green trim.
Harry followed Daphne into the kitchen where he witnessed the two girls hug each other in greeting.
"How are things?" asked Tracey.
"About as well as can be expected," answered Daphne. "You?"
"Well, I don't suppose I can complain too much. Anyway, could you give me a hand here? The others will be here soon and Harry's not got anything ready."
"Others?" asked Harry in perplexity.
As if to answer him the doorbell rang again.
"That'll be the door Harry," said the two girls in unison.
Harry walked along the hallway again and opened the front door.
"Good evening Harry," said Parvati and Padma Patil as he opened the door.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Look, I'm sorry but there's been a bit of a misunderstanding…"
"What? So it's been cancelled?" asked Parvati.
"No one told us…" said Padma.
"Wh- No, nothing's been cancelled…" said Harry.
"Well that's a relief," said Parvati before she and her sister made their way inside the house.
Harry shook his head and closed the front door as the two sisters hung up their cloaks – black with a sapphire blue trim for Padma, and black with a ruby red trim for Parvati.
"Aha," said Tracey from the kitchen doorway. "Parvati, Padma! Come on, lend us a hand."
Harry tried to protest as the twins made their way towards the kitchen but he was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing once again.
"Good evening Harry," chimed the red headed Susan Bones and the blonde haired Hannah Abbott as they made their way inside.
"Don't close the door," said Susan as she and Hannah took their cloaks off (black with an amber yellow trim for both of them) "I saw some others making their way up the road."
Harry turned and saw that there were indeed more people coming. They were just making their way through up the driveway.
"Good evening Harry," said Lilith Moon, Sally-Anne Perks and Lisa Turpin in unison as they stepped through the doorway.
"Yeah… sure…" said Harry weakly as the girls began hanging up their cloaks, black and amber for Lilith and Sally-Anne, black and sapphire for Lisa.
Felling more than a little nervous now, Harry followed the new arrivals through to the dining room where Daphne was giving out instructions.
"Come on you lot, let's turn this table around otherwise we'll never get everyone in. And find some more chairs if you can…"
"Everyone?" asked Harry "How many more are there?"
The doorbell rang again.
"Ok, this is starting to get ridiculous…" said Harry before wrenching the door open quite suddenly.
Four people fell through. Two of them were blonde and two were brunettes. Three of them wore black cloaks with a ruby red trim and one, the smallest, wore a black cloak with a sapphire blue trim. Harry recognised them all. The blonde with the red-trim to her cloak was Katie Bell, the blonde with a blue trim to her cloak was Luna Lovegood, and one of the brunettes was Lavender Brown.
And currently lying at the bottom of the heap with very recognisable, bushy brown hair and a red trim to her black cloak was none other than Harry's closest friend, Hermione Granger.
"Oops. Sorry, Hermione." apologised Lavender as she and Katie helped Luna to her feet.
Harry knelt and helped Hermione up, asking "Are you alright."
"I'm fine," said Hermione as she brushed herself off with her hands.
Harry became aware of the sound of laughter. Looking out through the front door to the end of the driveway, he could make out some very familiar pink hair.
"Tonks…" grumbled Harry.
The entire house was bustling with people. Indeed, Harry could not recall ever seeing it filled with this many people.
Some were in the kitchen; running circles around each other as they raided the cupboards and the fridge, cook up food that needed cooking and setting out everything edible onto plates. Meanwhile others were on furniture duty, shoving cabinets and sofas about as they tried to find the best angle at which to set the dining room table while still others were raiding all of the other rooms in the house in search of enough seating for all of them.
Harry hoped that whatever was going it here it meant that he would be leaving Privet Drive before Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia got back the next day otherwise he was a dead man!
From her position next to Harry, Tonks said "Now let's see, do we have everyone… Parvati, Padma… Susan, Hannah… Tracey and Daphne… Katie, Luna, Lavender… Lilith, Sally-Anne, Lisa… and, of course, Hermione. Perfect. Everybody is accounted for accounted for."
"Tonks, if you don't mind my asking, why are all these girls in my aunt and uncle's house?" asked Harry as he watched Luna and Lavender attempt to put out a fire that had begun in one of the saucepans.
That was going to be a bitch to clean and if he didn't get out of here soon then he would be the one doing it.
"All in good time, Harry," said Tonks, jovially. "Come on, I think that dinner's nearly done."
Harry had a strange sinking feeling about this. Of course that could have just been the sight of Susan throwing a whole joint of ham over the heads of everyone in the kitchen in the hopes that Hannah would catch it, only for her to miss, leaving the ham to land with a crash onto the table where it send plates, glasses and cutlery flying in all directions.
Or it could have been the sight of Lilith tipping a hot pan of pasta over a bowl, only for the pasta to remain firmly wedged within the pan. Or maybe it was the sight of Luna drizzling a whole bottle of chocolate sauce, the kind you add to ice cream, to a plate of pork ribs (Harry hoped that she simply hadn't read the label and was assuming she was adding barbeque sauce, rather than her actually deciding that pork ribs and chocolate sounded like a good combination.)
When they finally sat down to eat about ten minutes later, Harry began to realise that his fears were well founded. There were sausages that were as black as charcoal on the outside but still an uncooked pink on the inside. There were shells still in both the scrambled eggs and the fried ones. There were oven fries that were burnt at one end but frozen at the other.
There were all these problems and more, and it made Harry a little sad. There had been thirteen witches working of this meal and it seemed that not one of them could cook.
But as he looked around, Harry was surprised to see that none of the witches seemed to particularly care. Tonks just pulled the broken bits of plate out of the ham as she carved it. Anyone eating the pasta coated it in liberal amounts of sauce before chomping it down. Anyone eating the sausages simply peeled off the burnt skin and cut out the raw bits before eating the rest. The fries were cut in half before the better bits were consumed, bits of eggshell were spat back out without concern and Luna was happily munching away on her chocolate sauce-covered pork ribs, seemingly without a care in the world.
None of them seemed to be bothered by what they were eating, but seemed to delight in the fact that they were eating. As he looked over the group, Harry could not help but notice that they all looked a bit thinner than the last time he had seen any them.
It seemed that they had all lost weight recently, and they all looked rather sickly for it.
Something was definitely going on, but from the looks of things he was going to have to wait until dinner was over before he got any answers. So, not exactly trusting of their cooking, he settled upon munching away at his half a pumpkin pasty, along with a few small cakes and some fruit that he was certain the witches present had played no part in cooking.
Soon everyone had eaten their fill, but no one was ready to actually discuss why they were there. There was a lot of talking going on and a lot of laughter, but the information that Harry now rather desperately sought was not forthcoming.
When the food fight broke out, Harry decided that it was time to leave the table and step out into the back garden for a bit of fresh air.
A few minutes later Tonks joined him.
"You alright there Harry?" she asked.
Harry shook his head before asking "What's going on Tonks? Why are these girls here?"
"Well, let's clear up. It won't be much longer before everything can be explained," said Tonks.
"Luna, catch!" shouted Katie before throwing a plate towards Luna, who was now standing in the kitchen. Luna missed the plate and it shattered against the stove.
"Can we not throw the plates please?" asked Harry in a loud voice, only for another one to go whizzing by his head.
He turned towards the dining table and saw Parvati lifting up a bowl.
"Don't throw that! That's Aunt Petunia's fav-" he broke off as he watched the bowl sail across the room towards Hermione. It missed her completely and smashed apart against the fridge.
Harry winced and then tried to stop Lavender and Lilith who were tapping their knives against the table top.
"Can you not do that, please? You'll blunt them!"
"Ooh," cooed Lavender. "Did you hear that girls? He says we'll blunt the knives…"
And then the song began. Parvati started it with a;
Blunt the knives, bend the forks,
Then Padma added;
Smash the bottles and burn the corks,
Then the twins together, accompanied by Lavender, Lilith, Susan and Hannah sang;
Chip the glasses and crack the plates,
That's what Harry Potter hates!
And then they all joined in;
Cut the cloth, tread on the fat,
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat,
Pour the milk on the pantry floor,
Splash the wine on every door!
Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl,
Pound them up with a thumping pole,
And when they're finished if any are whole,
Send them down the hall to roll!
And poor Harry was left to watch in horror as the girls proceeded to do exactly all of that and more.
Harry quickly came to the conclusion that no matter what was discussed here tonight, he had to leave Privet Drive for good. To remain would only result in his being lynched by Uncle Vernon.
The chaos seemed to last forever, but it finally ground to a halt when there came the sound of someone thumping loudly on the front door.
Everyone went completely silent.
"They're here." said Tonks.
Once again Harry opened the front door.
"Constant vigilance Potter!" barked Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody as he stomped into the hallway uninvited. "I would have thought that by now you would know not to open the door to just anyone."
Kingsley Shacklebolt, with a satchel slung on his shoulder, followed Moody inside and Harry shut the door.
Moody stomped over to the dining room table and pulled out the chair that sat at the head of the table. Harry had previously been sitting there but he decided not to comment and went to lean against the wall as everyone else took seats.
"Now then," began Moody once everyone was seated "I'm sure that there are some amongst us who are still unclear as to why we are here so I'll get right to the point. Potter, Dumbledore left you with a task to accomplish, did he not?"
"He did," replied Harry. "How much do you know about it?"
"More than you," answered Moody. "Dumbledore died without passing on all of his information to you. Fortunately he elected to keep certain senior members of the Order of the Phoenix in the loop, myself and Kingsley included."
Harry glanced towards Tonks and the look on her face clearly showed that she was not one of the ones that Dumbledore had seen fit to keep in the loop.
Kingsley took up the thread of the discussion. "Following Dumbledore's death we searched his office high and low for every scrap of information regarding You-Know-Who's Horcruxes that we could find. I gather that Dumbledore told you that he believed there were seven?"
"Yes," replied Harry "Though he wasn't entirely clear on what they were."
"That's because he was never sure himself," replied Moody before reaching into a pocket on the inside of his robes and pulling out two items.
"One diary belonging to one Tom Marvolo Riddle, destroyed by you Harry." Moody stated as he placed the ruined remains of a small book bound in black leather onto the dining room table. He placed the second item down, stating "One ring, an heirloom of the almost extinct Gaunt family, destroyed by Dumbledore."
He then reached into another pocket and pulled out a locket, its glass smashed and the metal buckled. "One locket, a relic of Salazar Slytherin, destroyed by myself."
Harry stepped away from the wall and leaned over the table between Hermione and Luna to get a better look at the locket.
"Where did you find this? The one Dumbledore and I found the night he died was a fake."
"We found it at Headquarters, of all places," explained Kingsley. "We caught Mundungus Fletcher trying to make off with it. How it ended up at Headquarters is anyone's guess."
"Most of the Black family was in Voldemort's camp," stated Harry before a spark of realisation struck. "Hold on, the Blacks? Does anyone know the first name of Sirius' brother? The one who became a Death Eater."
"Regulus," said Kingsley. "Why?"
"The fake locket that Dumbledore and I found contained a note that was signed with the initials R.A.B. Is it possible that Regulus found out about the horcruxes and sought to destroy it?"
"That would certainly explain how it got to Headquarters," observed Kingsley.
"We can debate the issue all we want later," growled Moody. "For now we have plans to discuss."
He took out a roll of parchment and unfurled it. The parchment was a map of both the British Isles and the European continent, though an old one without much in the way of details.
"Now, Dumbledore had numerous theories on the locations of the remaining Horcruxes, but searches by the Order have shown that none of them are in the UK. Well, not at Dumbledore's suspected sites, at least."
Harry looked closer at the map and saw several red marks on it. He suddenly got a sinking feeling about this.
"You think that the remaining Horcruxes are out on the continent?" he asked.
"Most of them," replied Moody. "We believe that his snake, Nagini, is one and that foul thing never leaves his side. We have to prioritise on getting the rest first."
With three horcruxes destroyed and one known about but currently unobtainable, that left three horcruxes to find. Harry could not help but note that there were more than just three red marks on the map.
"Here's the plan Potter," said Moody. "You and the girls will take a couple of days to prepare and then you will head out of the country to track down and destroy the remaining Horcruxes."
"Why me?" asked Harry. "Why us? Why not the Order?"
"Because the Order currently has its hands full," answered Kingsley. "Following Dumbledore's death we've been having a much harder time combating the Death Eaters. Raids and murders have increased tenfold in recent weeks. Combine that fact with our efforts to help stabilise the Ministry and prevent it from falling to Voldemort's control and we are getting stretched far too thinly. We need you to take on the task of destroying the Horcruxes yourself."
Hermione placed her hand on top of Harry's and remarked "It's no different than what we were planning to do following Dumbledore's funeral, Harry."
Harry frowned and asked "But what about Ron? Why isn't he here?"
"We couldn't convince Molly to let her youngest two children out of her sight," answered Moody. "Granger agreed to help you at once and so did Lovegood."
"And the rest of you?" asked Harry. "No offence, but I hardly know a lot of you."
"None taken," replied Daphne. "To answer your question, we're here because we want to be."
"You need help on this," added Padma. "We're here to give it."
"But what about your families?" Harry pushed, though he could tell immediately that he had struck a nerve.
None of the girls could meet his eyes and even Tonks, Moody and Kingsley looked decidedly uncomfortable.
Finally Luna took sympathy on Harry and said "Harry, remember what Kingsley said about the increase in Death Eater activity?"
Harry frowned for a moment before realisation hit. "Oh God!" he exclaimed. "I'm so sorry."
"It's alright," said Susan "You weren't to know."
"No one really does," added Hannah.
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Scrimgeour's been busily engaging in cover-ups," said Moody. "The Ministry barely has a clue what it's doing so they hide the deaths as much as possible."
"Fantastic," grumbled Harry.
"It gets worse," said Kingsley. "There as another mass breakout at Azkaban, but Scrimgeour covered that up as well."
"So everyone that was caught and arrested at the Department of Mysteries…" began Harry.
"At large again," finished Moody. "Along with anyone caught since. Malfoy, Nott, Jugson, Macnair, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Dolohov, the Lestrange brothers, Rookwood, Mulciber, Travers and Yaxley are all at large again."
"He's got his entire inner circle again…" muttered Harry. Although he hated all Death Eaters with a passion, he was particularly annoyed that Yaxley had escaped from Azkaban as he had been the only Death Eater successfully apprehended in the wake of the Battle of the Astronomy Tower at the end of term. Harry himself had captured the man by placing him in a full body bind curse moments after Dumbledore had been killed by Snape.
"Which is why the Order needs to focus its attentions on keeping the Ministry from falling," said Moody.
Kingsley reached down and picked up the satchel that he had brought with him. "This bag is enchanted with an expansion charm, allowing it to carry a lot more than it otherwise would be able to. In here we have placed every scrap of information on the horcruxes that we could find in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts and at his home. We have also included a large selection of books from the Hogwarts library, the Black family library and other sources. We trust that by working together you will all be able to place the missing pieces of the puzzle together to find the Horcruxes."
Harry nodded and pulled the satchel closer to him.
"You'll also need this," added Moody, taking out a long silver sword.
Several of the girls gasped in awe as Moody handed the legendary artefact over to Harry, who took it and held it with reverence.
"Dumbledore kept that in his office and bequeathed it to you in his will," explained Moody. "It is yours now."
Harry held the sword upwards with the hilt just in front of his face. His emerald green eyes took in the red rubies embedded into the hilt before travelling upwards, taking in the name Godric Gryffindor engraved in the side, before coming to a stop at the pointed tip of the blade.
Something about holding the sword in his hand steeled his resolve and Harry nodded his head. "Very well, let's do this."
"Dumbledore also left you this," said Kingsley before handing him a small golden ball with delicate, silver wings that were fluttering feebly.
"A snitch?" queried Harry in disbelief as he took the item.
"Apparently it's the first one you ever caught in a Quidditch match," said Kingsley.
"Ok…" said Harry, though he didn't sound it. After all, what use was an old snitch to anyone, let along someone seeking to take down the worst dark lord in years?
"So where do we go from here?" asked Hermione.
"We were planning to move Harry out of here the day he comes of age as that is when the protections on this house will collapse." said Moody. "However we believe that Voldemort will suspect this so we need you to leave as soon as possible. Tomorrow if you can manage it. Where you go is up to you, but make sure that you have a decent plan of action before leaving the country."
"Don't use any of the major ways out of the country when leaving," advised Kingsley. "We have reason to believe that Voldemort is having all major airports and harbours watched in order to catch people attempting to flee the country. Leave from a small harbour and get to France as quickly as possible. From there make your way to Delacour Mansion. Fleur Delacour's family have agreed to meet with you and give you some advice."
"No matter what happens, try to avoid conflict as much as possible," said Moody. "The last thing we need is the ICW thinking we're allowing the war to spill over into other countries."
Lisa frowned and said "But surely some of the Death Eaters are from other countries, aren't they?"
"Correct, lass," said Moody. "Rowle's from Norway, Dolohov's Russian, as was Karkaroff. The Lestrange brothers' father was French. The Giants came from somewhere is the Ural Mountains and many of the werewolves in Fenrir's pack come from abroad as well. But that's the thing with the ICW – so long as the fight is taking place here they couldn't give a toss, even if their nationals are involved. However, the moment the battle seeps over into their countries…"
"Got it," said Harry.
"One last thing," said Kingsley. "Some of you still aren't considered 'of age.' Whatever you do, don't do any magic until you are otherwise the trace will be set off and the last thing we need is for the Ministry to swoop down upon you all before you can get away."
They all nodded. Of those gathered, only Harry and Luna were not considered 'of age.' Harry would turn seventeen in another fortnight, but Luna would have to wait more than two months to be able to use magic outside of Hogwarts legally.
"It's probably for the best that you do things the muggle way as much as possible," added Moody. "Less chance of being detected that way."
After getting a round of nods in agreement, Moody declared that he and Kingsley had other places to be. Tonks followed them as they left, leaving Harry alone with his new companions.
Slowly Harry turned to them and asked "So, any ideas regarding our first move?"
AN: Hello! I'm back! Sorry about the unannounced hiatus but I never really intended to take one. Basically a lot of things have conspired the keep me from writing, and it wasn't all the standard "Real Life" stuff either. Basically I got into some old computer games that I love, I got hooked on various Pokémon "Let's Play" videos on YouTube, I've started a new college course for work, the final two seasons of the US version of The Office were released on DVD here in the UK (UK readers, if you haven't checked this show out like so many haven't, you really need to. America doesn't really have much luck in remaking British shows but with this one they hit the bloody jackpot!)
I also had a bit of writer's block as well as a loss of drive to write at all, related partially to a reduced level of inspiration. Hopefully though, as we get closer to Christmas and the New Year I'll be able to pull my finger out and get some writing done. I do enjoy doing it and I enjoy your feedback so I don't have a reason to give up on it. A word of warning though, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire got released here in Europe today (a full week after everyone else – thanks for that Nintendo, I love you too!) so that may get in the way of me producing much for the next few weeks. I know that some of you don't want to hear that, but if you were as big a fan of Pokémon, and in particular the Third Generation games as I am then you'd understand why the release of these remakes is such a big deal to me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little ditty for what it was. I do hope to continue it, and yes a lot of it will parody The Hobbit book and films. (Speaking of which, just over two weeks before the last film hits our screens and I can't wait!)